Search for the Phantom
by BlackShadowScythe
Summary: Before Giovanni was the head of the largest criminal organization in the world, he was a pokemon trainer just like any other kid. Originally using Pokemon training as a way to escape his future as heir to a criminal organization, Giovanni becomes set on revenge after the death of Miyamoto and vows to defeat the elusive Mew.
1. Absolutely Hopeless Brat

**Chapter One-** Absolutely Hopeless Brat

_Age 9_

* * *

The head of Team Rocket sat working at a desk in her office. To her subordinates, she was known only as "Madame Boss." No one knew what her real name was, and no one dared to ask. All they knew was that she was the head of the criminal underworld of Kanto and a woman to be feared. The same could not be said, however, of her brat of a son who the underlings only obeyed because she was his mother. The boy was simply unmanageable and therefore unsuitable for taking her place were she to pass on.

She had tried everything she could think of. First, she had him sent off to an academy in Cerulean City. From there she planned to have him go to Pokemon Tech after he turned ten. She had, had no such luck however. Within a week of his enrollment, he had managed to get himself kicked out of Cerulean's Pokemon Academy for flinging a rock through the window of the principle's office. She ended up having to pay for the cost of window repairs and the principle's badly dented desk.

Instead of wasting more money on another school, she figured home school would be the next best thing. At first, it seemed to work, but then he managed to wake up earlier then usual and escape before his tutor arrived. Everyday for the past three days, he had found a new way to sneak out of his room, only to return as soon as it got dark. She had maximized security outside his room, of course, but somehow he still found a way to escape. Anyone else would have stormed into his room to give him a good talking too, but Madame wasn't one to resort to such desperate measures. She was determine to put the little brat in his place.

* * *

Giovanni stomped though the autumn forest, crunching the fallen leaves underneath his feet. Listening to the sound of the leaves cracking beneath him was very fulfilling. It gave him a great sense of power he couldn't get cooped up wherever his mother decided to put him. Hopefully, his mother's agents wouldn't find him and drag him back to HQ before he had a chance to explore a bit, and, if he was lucky, get his hands on a pokemon.

After he had gotten kicked out of school, his mother had started sending her agents to tutor him in the basics; pokemon names, what attacks they could learn, when they evolved and type advantages. He had sat through nearly a week of classes before he decided he had had enough. Thinking it over, it probably would have been wiser for him to sneak into town instead of wandering into the forest. His mother could send the agents after him if he wandered into the forest, but she wouldn't dare send anyone to apprehend him in Viridian City. If they caused a scene, it might mean exposing the entire organization. Besides, he wouldn't have to worry about getting lost in town.

Not that he could get lost in the forest either. He had been in the Viridian forest many times, of course, but he hadn't seen more then the bordering layer of trees. That was as far as his mother would allow him to go. And to reinforce her rule, she would send one of her pokemon to follow him and make sure he kept out of trouble. Until now, this rule hadn't bother Giovanni much. The treeline was where most of the best slingshot pebbles were anyways. He would go into the forest to pick out the roundest, smoothest pebbles he could find and them to cobbler new agents before they new what'd hit them.

Suddenly he heard a high pitched noise echoing though the trees. He looked around, trying to pinpoint the direction the noise was coming from. He turned towards the rising sun and walked off the already narrow, unused path. He leapt across a gulch with a tiny stream off water flowing through it and past a fallen tree. After losing his balance on the grass, still soggy with early morning dew, and fallen down a sharp, but shallow ravine, he identified the source of the noise, a cage with wheels that had been wrapped in a dark green sheet, a weak attempt the hide the contexts of the cage to the public eye, for the sheet couldn't block the nearly ear-shattering shrieks that came from inside.

Giovanni pulled the sheet off the cage and stared at the pokemon trapped inside. They looked back at him and let out a series of high pitched wails. The pokemon were all extremely thin looking, but even the fact that they were underfed could not take beauty away from their sleek, white coats and the glowing red gem each of them had embedding into their foreheads. They were, perhaps not unreasonably, seeing as they had been caged and neglected, extremely unfriendly towards him. One of them hissed as Giovanni reached a hand out to the cage.

He reached into the inside of his jacket and pulled out a small manual. It was titled, _'Pokemon Field Guide: Viridian City Edition' _He flipped though it quickly. "Well whatever you are, you're not in here." he said. "I guess that means you must be rare huh? Well... if you're rare-" He snatched an empty pokemon from his belt. He had managed to swiped off one of the new recruits a couple of days ago.

"Persian!", the biggest of the group cried.

"So you guys are called Persian huh?" Giovanni said, thinking of how convenient it was that pokemon knew how to say their names. He Persian let out another hiss.

"Calm down." Giovanni growled back, "I'm only catching one of you guys, preferably one that doesn't come with an attitude like that." He shook the bars of the cage. "Now what to do about these..." he murmured to himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pin. Jabbing the pointed end into the lock, he twisted and nicked vigorously until the cage finally burst open. The pokemon burst out of the cage and scatter in different directions, disappearing into the trees before Giovanni could get to his feet.

"You're welcome!" he shouted. He turned back to the empty cage. Or what would have been an empty cage, if there wasn't still something inside. It was the Persian that had hissed at him.

"Well?" Giovanni said, "Aren't you leaving too?" He climbed up into the cage.

"What's the matter? All bark and no bite?" If it wasn't going to run, he might as well catch it. The Persian lashed out at him and crushed the pokeball in Giovanni's hand between its teeth. Startled, Giovanni leapt back and crawled to the opposite corner of the cage.

"Ok, you made your point!" he screamed, hoping it wouldn't come after him. The cage was small and if Persian chose to lash out at him again, he would have nowhere left to run.

Just then, something caught his eye; an open wound in the Persian's left leg. "You're hurt." he said, seriously. The injury looked to be fairly fresh and quite deep. If it wasn't taken care of it would get infected. He had seen the agents back at headquarters clean their scratches and scraps.

"There's a stream not too far from here, but I don't think it'd been too smart for you to stay here." he said, "Can you walk?"

Persian struggled to get to its feet and hobbled out of the cage. It winced in pain as its injured leg touch the ground and it started limping towards the tree line. Giovanni followed at a distance in case the Persian decided to use him as a scratching post again. After it had limped for what seemed to Giovanni about a quarter of an hour, Persian plopped down in the shade of a giant oak tree.

"Wait right here I'll be right back." Giovanni said, as he darted off in the direction they had come. He ran past the fallen tree and down into the stream that rain though the gulch. There wasn't much water flowing, but with the help of a scrap of moss it had scraped of a trees, he managed to collect a fair amount of liquid and bring it back to the injured pokemon.

Giovanni slapped the piece of moss on the wound and felt as Persian's body relaxed. He gently patted the cat pokemon on the head and scratched it behind the ears. "I'm guessing you must be pretty rare huh? I've never seen anything in the Viridian Forest but Caterpie." As if to prove his point a Caterpie wiggled down from the tree.

"See what I mean?"

He stood up. "Well you destroyed my only pokeball." he said, standing. "So I guess I can't catch you now." He turned and started walking back the way he had come, all the while thinking how not being able to have something just made you want it even more. Humans were just weird that way. But one thing was certain, Persian were rare and he wasn't about to let such a one of a kind treasure escape him.

* * *

"Who's there?!", Dr. Zager cried, from the darkness of his laboratory. He looked up from the microscope he had been peering into and flicked on the lights. "Oh, its you", he said, as he spotted Giovanni standing by the doorway.

"What do you know about Persian, Dr. Zager?", Giovanni asked.

"I've told you this before, sir, pokemon are Dr. Namba's field of expertise. I specialize in the development of new technology."

"Right, which means I can trust you", Giovanni said. He had visited Dr. Namba's lab once, and it had been a decision he regretted to this day. The doctor was infamous for using whoever set foot in his lab as a test subject. Newly made agents would often foolishly walk too close to his laboratory, only to be hooked up to a machine or force-fed mysterious serums. He claimed that human made excellent test subjects as they were much easier to control and had DNA 95% similar to that of, "bipedal, tailless pokemon", whatever that meant.

Dr. Zager seemed to realize the basis of the boy's concern and nodded, letting him into the lab and then shutting the door behind him. He, unlike Dr. Namba, was a quiet man who kept to himself and didn't socialize much. In fact, Giovanni didn't know him to talk to anyone other than his mother and himself. He forbade anyone from coming into his laboratory and had most visitors wait in his office until he was ready to see them. Over the years he had become a confidant to Giovanni and he turned to him more than anyone else whenever he had a concern. It wasn't that Dr. Zager sympathized with him, or offered advice, the man rarely spoke unless asked too. Instead he would simply listen and occasionally nod, and when Giovanni was finished speaking he would turn back to his work as if nothing had happened at all. Growing up as the heir to a crime organization Giovanni found he was constantly being watched wherever he went. And everyone who watched him reported everything they saw straight back to his mother. So he was thankful to Zager for not being just another face in the crowd.

"I saw a picture of Persian in a book", Giovanni lied.

"But it didn't say much about them so I was curious."

"Persian are an extremely rare breed", Dr. Zager said, "Not much is known about them except that they are normal types pokemon. The most frequent sightings of them occur in the Vermilion City area which is also where its pre-evolved form, Meowth is most commonly sighted. Meowth are not quite as rare, but still quite difficult to come by. They are prized by poachers for their fur. Trainers who train to capture them rarely succeed. Even when a trainer does happen to be successful, they end up receiving serious injuries because most are simply too difficult to handle."

Got that right, Giovanni thought, recalling Persian's aggressive meanness.

"What are the chances that one would show up around here?"

"That would be impossible", Dr. Zager said, "They would have to walk through Mt. Moon to get here from Vermilion."

"You said they were prized by poachers. Well, what if a poacher brought one here?"

"Unlikely, if a poacher captured Persian in Vermilion City, they would smuggle them out of the country in exchange for untraceable currency as quickly as possible."

"What if the poacher was being pursed?" Giovanni thought out loud, "If they were constantly being followed, it could be risky for them to make a move."

"In that cause the most effective option would be for them to escape to the nearest city and wait for the heat to die down. In this cause the best options would be Saffron City or maybe Lavender Town."

"But that's exactly what the police would be expecting", Giovanni said, "If they're smart, they would have men posted at the entrance to both cities."

"Of course, using aircraft would only attract more unwanted attention and if you travel by truck, those are the only two towns you can get to."

"If you travel above ground", Giovanni said, smiling. Dr. Zager raised a curious eyebrow.

"Quick! Show me a map of Kanto!" Dr. Zager shuffled over to the opposite end of the room and pointed to a wall that had been taped to the wall. Giovanni scanned the map until he found a dot labeled, "Vermilion City." After that, he quickly located "Viridian City". He drew a line between the two cities with his finger. They were almost exactly lined up.

"What if someone dug a tunnel that came up near the forest, then they could send the Persian to Pallet Town and have them sent out without much trouble. Pallet Town is so small they don't even have a police force, they just share one with us."

Giovanni turned and walked out the door.

"I think I've gotten all the information I need. Thank you, Dr. Zager."

Dr. Zager was silent. He waited until Giovanni had shut the door behind him then muttered to himself, shaking his head, "Clever brat. He's going to be big trouble when he gets older."


	2. Desperate Measures

**Chapter** **Two-** Desperate Measures

_Age 9_

* * *

Giovanni plopped down on his king-sized bed and sighed. The clock on the wall told him it was 7:00 pm. He had been outside almost the entire day. He had managed to escape a day's worth of boring lectures. Now the only thing he had to worry about was escaping his mother's wrath. He had skipped out on his lessons for the day. Once her assistants reported the news to her, she would be furious, but he didn't care. In three weeks, he would be ten and then he would leave and never come back.

He didn't hate his mother. In fact, he held her in the highest respect. She was a clever lady and a competent businesswoman, (although she occasionally misjudged situations). The thing he did hate, however, was being bored. And to him, spending all of his adult life running a company really didn't seem all that fulfilling.

His mother's number one priority seemed to be money. She never really liked pokemon very much although she did have a few. She usually had the grunts take care of them and train them for her. If she ever found out he had a Persian, and Dr. Zager was right about its fur being rare, his mother would probably go out into the forest to capture Persian and then sell it off to the highest bidder. He needed to make sure she didn't find out about it until he could capture Persian for himself.

Luckily, his mother was presently away on business out of the city. She probably wouldn't return till late tomorrow or the next day. He was confident he would be able to skip at least a few more days of lessons before she caught wind.

"Master Giovanni?", a voice said from the other side of his bedroom door.

"Come in," he cried as the door to his room opened and a tall, slender man came in holding a tin tray with several plates of food stacked on it.

"You may leave now," Giovanni said after the man set down the tray.

"As you wish sir," The man bowed and walked backwards out of the room.

As soon as he shut the door, Giovanni sat down and began devouring his dinner greedily, suddenly realizing how hungry he was. He had been out all day and had skipped both breakfast and lunch. As he ate, he began thinking about Persian. Its leg injury would probably prevent it from hunting for a while. It would probably starve to death in the forest if no one took care of it. Giovanni though of bring some of his leftover dinner to Persian in the morning, but he wasn't sure whether or not Persian would enjoy, or even be able to digest human food.

He couldn't get pokemon food from the store until he turned ten and if he asked for food from the grunts it would definitely arouse suspicion. His only opinion was to steal it and there was only one man he could get it from...

* * *

"I was avoiding this as long as I could, but unfortunately, desperate times call for desperate measures," Giovanni sighed. He needed to get pokemon food for Persian. It was unlikely it could hunt with its leg in the condition it was in. He didn't want to ask one of the grunts for food in case one of the smarter ones got suspicious and the word got to his mother's ear.

He lifted one hand and reluctantly knocked on the door to Dr. Namba's lab. Before the door could open, he turned and darted down the hall, turned the corner then peered back at the entrance to the lab.

Dr. Namba was a middle-aged, red haired man in his mid-30s. "Who's there?!", he shouted, sounding annoyed. He looked down the hall both ways and after finding it totally empty went back inside, not bothering to close the door.

The door was a cumbersome, two inch hunk of metal. It was the type of door that was designed to slowly close on its own rather then be closed manually. Giovanni half tip-toed, half slid towards the door, just in time to slip a tiny pebble into the door frame to hold it open, just a crack. He waited a few minutes, just in case Dr. Namba was still standing near the door, then slid his fingers through the crack and pried the door opened.

Closing the door gently behind him he crawled through the lab. He had only been inside once before, but since the lab was nearly an exact copy of Dr. Zager's, save for the contents, he found it very easy to maneuver. Unfortunately, he had no idea where the pokemon food was kept, so he had to resort to opening random cabinets until he found the right one.

Most of the drawers were filled with files on pokemon and drafts of papers the doctor was in the process of writing. Others were filled with beakers, test tubes and bottles filled with multi-colored pills.

"It's in the pokemon room," Giovanni realized. He clenched his hands into fists and squeezed them tightly. He slowly got up and peered over the desk top. Sure enough, he saw Dr. Namba walking back and forth in the pokemon room through the half opened door. There was no way anyone could get in an out without being seen, unless...

Giovanni crept across the marble floor and made his way slowly across the room, positioning himself behind the door to the pokemon room. He took his slingshot out and choose a flat gray stone that resembled a jar labeled "Everstones" that sat on the top shelf of a bookcase several feet away. Aiming carefully, he pulled back the rubber band and inserted the stone carefully. "3...2...1!", he counted under his breath as he released the rock.

Not even bothering to confirm that he had hit his target he pressed his back against the wall, closed his eyes and prayed Dr. Namba wouldn't notice him cowering behind the door.

"What the-", Dr. Namba cried as he stepped through the door as stared at the pile of broken glass scattered across the floor. "Lousy Ratatta!", he growled, "One of them must have gotten out again."

As he bent down to pick up the fallen stones, Giovanni crawled out of his hiding place and darted into the pokemon room, letting out a huge sigh of relief. The pokemon room was a huge space filled with caged containing various pokemon Dr. Namba used in his studies. There were about a dozen floor to ceiling cages although only 4 of them were currently occupied. All of them were pokemon Giovanni didn't recognize.

He looked around the room until he spotted a row of barrels labeled with the 16 pokemon types that were native to Kanto; Fire, Water, Grass, Flying, Electric, Bug, Fighting, Psychic, Dark, Ghost, Ice, Dragon, Poison, Ground, Rock and Normal. He reached into the barrel labeled, "Normal", and began stuffing this pockets of his cargo shorts.

Suddenly he heard Dr. Namba step back into the room. He got to his knees and drove behind one of the cages. He peered between the bars and his spirits sank as he watched Dr. Namba shut the door, Giovanni's only method of escape, behind him. Even if he did manage to get to the door without Dr. Namba noticing, the time it took to open and close it would surely get him captured.

He looked around, wondering if he could find another method to distract the doctor while he made his escape, but the room was much less cluttered then the one he had just been in. There was nothing in it but pokemon in cages. Just then, the craziest idea popped into his head. If it succeeded he would be the smartest kid alive and if it failed he would be dead.

Giovanni looked around at the pokemon in the room to get a sense of what he had to work with. He chose one that looked like a rock monster. It had a hard armor body, red eyes and a horn coming out of its forehead. "You look pretty rampagy," he said to himself.

He chose a large rock and aimed it at the monster, only to adjust his aim to point slightly at the ceiling. The cage was more a couple few away. If the launched the rock straight, it would hit the floor before it reached the cage. He released the rock, wincing as it slid in between two intersecting water pipes and got caught.

"Crap!", he hissed, picking out another rock. He aimed again, this time slightly closer to the ground, but flinched as he caught Dr. Namba whirling around to gaze in his direction. In his panic, he's hand slipped and he let go of the stone which missed its intended target by a mile and skidded harmlessly across the floor.

Dr. Namba hadn't seen him, but he had definitely sensed his presence. Giovanni could feel him walking closer to his hiding spot with each passing second. He closed his eyes and buried his head in his arms, half hoping it would make him invisible.

"What?!", Giovanni heard Dr. Namba's voice growl. He opened his eyes and turned to look. One of the water pipes had burst and was spraying water all over the room. The stone Giovanni had shot at the pipe had caused a dent that prevented the water from flowing properly, thus, causing the pipes to burst. The rock pokemon cried out in rage and agitation as it fled to the opposite end of the cage and tried to escape the leaky pipe's range while Dr. Namba picked up the phone and dialed for someone to fix the pipes.

Giovanni wasn't stupid. He got to his feet and fled the laboratory, not even caring if he was spotted.

* * *

**A/N: Steel is not listed as a type because this story takes place in the past and the only steel types native to Kanto are the Magnemite evolutionary line, Steelix and Scizor. And this Steelix and Scizor are both evolved pokemon that need to be traded with metal coat assume they are undiscovered. Magnemite is still just considered electric. Steel type is known, but are only acknowledged in other regions. So basically, everyone knows there are much more then 150 pokemon, but there are just 150 native to Kanto. The other regions all exist, I just won't really mention them (except maybe Johto).**


	3. Runaway

**Chapter** **Three-** Runaway

_Age 9_

* * *

Giovanni smiled, slowly stroking Persian's silky cream fur as the cat ate out of his hand. He had gotten up the moment the sun's first rays shone into his bedroom window to go visit Persian. He had half expected the pokemon to have moved to a different area of the forest, thereby making it impossible for him to track him down. But fortunately, the cat hadn't moved an inch from the spot Giovanni had left him the night before.

Persian's leg had improved a bit from the day before, but the pokemon was still rather thin. Giovanni suspected that the poacher hadn't bothered to feed it properly. And if Persian had been brought all the way from Vermilion City, that probably meant it hadn't eaten well in several days, maybe weeks.

"Don't eat it all," Giovanni warned, though he could help but let a small smile creep onto his lips.

"I went though I lot of trouble to even get this much. I have a bit more at home, but it's not going to last very long."

He hadn't told Persian where "home" was yet. He wasn't even sure why he was talking to it so much. Did pokemon even understand what you said to them? He certainly couldn't understand Persian's meows. Either way, talking to Persian seemed to calm the both of them.

When Persian was finished eating, Giovanni got up to change the moss on his leg. He walked back to the river he had gone to the day before and scraped a new slice of moss off the trees. After soaking it with water, he headed back to Persian and placed the new piece of moss on his leg.

"In three weeks, I'll be ten. That means I get to be a pokemon trainer," Persian seemed to tense after hearing his words. "I'll be the greatest trainer there ever was. And you're going to help me alright?"

Persian sniffed and turned his head in the other direction.

_"He'll come around,"_ Giovanni thought.

* * *

"Charmeleon." The pokeball burst open in a brief flash of light and a orange-red lizard materialized in front of Madame Boss. It got down on one knee and dipped its head in fearful respect for its trainer.

"Fetch the brat and bring him to me," Madame commanded.

"Char," Charmeleon grunted to let his trainer know he understood her orders, then turned around and darted off on all fours.

Madame watched her pokemon exit the room and sat back in her chair. She was not pleased. She had gone out of town for three days only to find that her brat of a son had been doing nothing in that time. Her instincts had told her to stay and keep the boy in line, but there had been an emergency that required her immediate intervention and she was forced to go against her better judgement.

It seemed a lot of that sort of things were happening as of late. Rival gangs springing up left and right across the country and threatening the prosperity of the already stationed Rocket gang which, as their leader, was something Madame refused to put up with. One by one she had brought them down until once again her's was the only left.

But as they say, "Crime never sleeps." And neither did her competition. With the rise of new crime syndicates, the cops had started coming down on them harder and harder, organizing raids and shutting down several of her operations in the last few months.

In the two decades since she had founded Team Rocket, she had never experienced any competition, and now she was being attacked at all angles and she didn't need some brat making things harder for her when she already had enough on her plate.

* * *

Three meals a day and two days had emptied the supply of food Giovanni had taken from Dr. Namba. He had started scouting the woods for berry bushes after observing Persian nibbling on a berry a Pidgey had dropped as it had flown by. Giovanni suspected that the berries couldn't be very filling, but that they would have to do until he could get more pokemon food, or better yet, Persian was healed enough to hunt.

Unfortunately, it being fall meant that berry season was almost over. Most berry eating pokemon had long since moved on to nuts, twigs and whatever else they could find. None of which would be suitable to a starving Persian.

He heard a rustling in the bushes. Bracing himself in case a wild pokemon leapt out and attacked, he picked up a twig and poked at the bush. Suddenly, a Charmeleon hurdles itself out of the bushes and landed on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Giovanni groaned. It looked like his mother was going to be home sooner then he had anticipated.

* * *

Giovanni straightened his clothes before entering his mother's study. If there was anything that she hated, it was sloppy appearances.

His mothers office was lavishly decorated in reds and golds that let off an aura of dark elegance. There were two floor to ceiling windows on either side of the inner wall, each covered with dark red drapes that were tied with golden colored rope with tassels at the end. In the space between the windows sat his mother, the scariest most powerful woman in the world, or at least in Giovanni opinion.

She always held the same expression of disgruntled annoyance on her face so it was difficult to tell what she wanted. She was obvious furious at him for playing hooky, but if that had been all she would have just locked his doors and windows rather than sending her pokemon out to subdue him.

At his mother side stood Miyamoto. A young woman in her mid-twenties, she was his mother's second in command and possibly closest friend. His mother often called her the "ideal image of Team Rocket".

Giovanni often regarded Miyamoto as an older sister, despite her frequent absence from the base in order to execute her assigned tasks. She was the one his mother had asked to home school Giovanni in hopes their close relationship might prevent him from misbehaving. She stood as expressionless as her employer.

"I enjoyed your performance the other day," his mother said in an unusually soft tone.

Giovanni frowned, confused as to what she meant. He noticed a television screen sitting on her desk and walked towards it. Madame turned the box around slowly to face him.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out?", she said.

Giovanni stared at the screen, trying to make sense of the black and white blurs. He saw people darting back and forth across one of the laboratories at headquarters. He though a thief had snuck in, until the memory of his excursion hit him like an iceberg.

_"The video cameras!"_, Giovanni nearly shouted out loud.

How could he have been so stupid! Almost all the laboratories at headquarters were equipped with at least two or three that were checked regularly by the grunts. He could have easily shattered the camera's with his slingshot or asked Dr. Zager to alter the footage like he did whenever Giovanni visited so it would look as if he had been alone.

"I leave for three days and you find it appropriate to slack off and waste you time feeding forest rats!", she shouted.

Giovanni flinched at her bitter words, but was otherwise unaffected by them. He had been yelled at plenty of times and was fairly use to it, but something his mother had said confused him. "_Forest rats?"_

"One day, you will be required to take over this company, and I can not have an heir with his head in the leaves!", she said. "You are turning ten in three weeks-"

Two and a half, Giovanni thought. Although it would be stupid to correct his mother when she was this pissed.

"So instead on going on your journey like everyone else you will stay at headquarters and begin your Rocket training. Miyamoto will mentor you as she has done before," she said, nodding at the magenta haired woman.

"Depending on your performance you will be allow you leave after you have passed your final exam. Till then, you are no to sent a single foot out of Rocket grounds. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

Giovanni bit his lower lip and nodded slowly.

* * *

Giovanni sighed. He hadn't expected his mother to be so calm about the whole affair. It almost seemed out of character for her, not that he was complaining. Being kept inside was pretty bad, but he could think of worst punishments he had received in the past. Plus Rocket training sounded really cool. It definitely beat getting lectured all day on proper battling techniques.

Miyamoto walked up behind him while he was thinking. "You're doomed."

Giovanni jumped and whirled around, doing his best to mask his surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I mean. Your mother just set you up for the Rocket training camp."

"So?", Giovanni said, "It can't be that bad. I mean you went. Everyone here was required to go and pass the final before they could be here. And they did it willingly. So what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that your mother has issued a rule that no one can even start training until they're eighteen! And even then, statistics show 30% of trainees flunk out and 50% of the remainder train for more than one semester because they fail their final."

"How long is a semester?", he asked.

"Eighteen months."

"So I have to stay inside for a year and a half?!"

"At least," Miyamoto said. "On the bright side, most of your training is outside, but you still can't leave Team Rocket owned territory."

Giovanni groaned. Seeing that he was distressed, she changed the subject. "So what where you really doing out there?"

"What do you mean?"

"You might have been able to fool your mother, but I know you better then that. She thinks you stole that food to feed wild Rattata, what a joke. Your technique was okay, but still, you wouldn't go through that much trouble unless it was something really rare. So how's about telling your big sis?", she said.

Giovanni could see she wouldn't stop bothering him until he spoke.

"Its a Persian," he confessed.

"WHAT?!", she shouted.

"Hush!", Giovanni cried, covering her mouth with his hands to prevent her from speaking.

Miyamoto removed his hands from her face.

"Seriously?"

Giovanni grinned, "I stole it." He giggled mischievously, "From a poacher."

"So where is it?"

Giovanni slapped himself.

"I left him back in the forest! I have to go get him!"

Miyamoto grabbed him by the grabbed and pulled him back.

"Woah there! You heard your mom. I'm not allowed to let you leave until you pass your final!"

"I can't wait eighteen months!", Giovanni cried. "The Persian's hurt. It can't hunt! I've been bring it food for the past two days. It's almost winter so it'll die in its condition!"

Miyamoto frowned and bit her lip. Giovanni knew she wasn't the type to let an opportunity to get her on a rare pokemon simply slip by.

"Ok," she said finally. "Tomorrow. Sunrise. Wait for me outside your room."

* * *

**A/N: Check out my other pokemon fanfiction which is a collection of Team Rocket one-shots titled, "Tales of Team Rocket." Note that it is not related to the events of this story and should be looked at separately.**


	4. Disobedience

**Chapter** **Four-** Disobedience

_Age 9_

* * *

When Giovanni got up the next morning, the first thing he noticed was that his window had been sealed shut from the outside. Most of the windows at HQ, including Giovanni's own, were made of bullet-proof glass.

He wondered what Miyamoto's plan was. He hadn't tried yet, but he was pretty sure the door would be locked as well, which meant he wouldn't be able to leave his room without an escort and the guards his mother had posted all over the building meant he couldn't go anywhere he wasn't suppose to without being reported. Even if Miyamoto was with him, if he took one step out of the building, his mother would find out.

Suddenly, the door to his room opened. Miyamoto stood in the doorway. She wore a sleeveless jacket with a zipper. The jacket particularly concealed the red "R" on her uniform. Next to her stood two hulking guards that had been assigned to his room 24/7 at her side.

"Madame wants me to remind you that her heir is not permitted to leave the grounds." one of the guards said.

"Understood." she said, with a curt nod her head.

Giovanni followed Miyamoto down the hallway. They ran into several grunts, all of whom saluted as they passed by. Giovanni knew they were saluting for Miyamoto. When he would walk down the hall the most he would receive were a few raised eyebrows. He suspected that if he didn't walk down the halls with familiarity and wasn't wearing the Rocket "R", he would be immediately thrown in the basement and locked up for trespassing.

"So what's your plan exactly?" he asked.

Miyamoto grinned, "When I first got transferred here from the trainee's academy I did a lot of exploring. Eventually, I came across this-" She pushed open the door to the storage closet and stepped inside.

"Congratulations... you found a room filled with dirty towels, smelly mops and broken pokeballs." Giovanni groaned.

"At first glance yes, but can you feel that breeze?"

Giovanni walked over to where Miyamoto was standing. At first he couldn't feel a thing. He was about to leave before the smell coming from the room suffocated him when he suddenly felt a gust of cool air coming from the ground.

"Yeah I do!" he cried, as he bent down and searched the floor boards for cracks. He scrutinized every inch of the room, but found nothing.

"Watch." Miyamoto said, coming over with a pail of water. Giovanni leapt up, trying to avoid being drenched as Miyamoto poured the bucket of water over the floor boards. "Now watch for where the water leaks through."

"I see." Giovanni said, surprised by Miyamoto's cleverness. He watched as the water began to leak through the floor in certain areas, leaving a dry area at the center of the puddle.

"Found it!" he announced, digging his fingers in the wood. He lifted the trapdoor up and revealed a tunnel paved with concrete.

"I've explored these tunnels many times." Miyamoto said, "Ever since I found them back in my second year. They are part of a sewage line that was abandoned some time ago." She leaped through the trapdoor, but before Giovanni could follow her, she place a hand on his chest, signalling him to stop.

"Take off your shirt and wear it inside-out." he told him.

"Why?"

Miyamoto pointed to the "R" on his shirt. "If you go out to the middle of town dressed like that you'll probably be arrested on the spot. The cops aren't taking any chances now a days." she explained.

Giovanni nodded and turned his shirt inside-out so that the "R" was concealed. On the downside, he looked like an idiot. He groaned and followed Miyamoto through the trapdoor, closing it behind him so that no one could follow.

"If you walk far enough along" Miyamoto's voice echoed in the darkness of the tunnel, "it'll connect to the sewer system Viridian City uses. From there we can pop up anywhere there's a manhole cover."

"It's a bit dark down here." Giovanni commented. He could barely seen his hands in front of his face.

"Well it is a sewer."

"Don't you have a flashlight or a match or something?"

"Better."

Giovanni heard the sound a pokeball click open, emitting a flash of light. "Vileplume!" a voice cried.

"Vileplume flash!" Miyamoto commanded. As Giovanni's eyes adjusted to the light, he was able to make out a small blue creature with an enormous flower on it's head. At Miyamoto's order, bright light flashed from it's eyes and flower.

"Vileplume are grass-poison types. Their pollen is toxic and they can swallow prey up to twice their size." Miyamoto recited, proudly.

Giovanni gulped, "_Nothing like being stuck in a sewer with a giant carnivorous flower."_

* * *

Miyamoto led the way through to sewer as if she knew the entire system by heart. Giovanni could only guess how many times she had used the tunnels to sneak out. She had been a member of Team Rocket for years, in fact Giovanni couldn't recall a time she wasn't a high ranking officer of the organization.

Before long they came across ladder which led to the surface. Miyamoto stopped in front of it and turned back to Giovanni. "Before we go any further I just want to make one thing clear. The only reason I'm doing this for you is because you'll be going to the Rocket Training Academy soon and you won't survive your first day without any pokemon, but since you have yet to gain any experience handling pokemon, it's probably best you train one you are already somewhat familiar with. That's the only reason alright? So don't expect anymore favours later."

"Yeah, yeah. You're afraid of getting fired." he said pushing past her and climbing up the slimy, moss-covered ladder.

"Can you at least try to be a bit more serious? This is your future we're talking about." Miyamoto cried, recalling Vileplume and zipping up her jacket, completely concealing the fact that she was a Rocket agent before following Giovanni up the ladder.

Giovanni pushed the cover of the manhole open and crawled out. "Yeah well it's a little hard to do, when what's been set in stone is so unappetizing." he said. "I mean for you guys it's okay. You get to travel all over the world, see tough pokemon and basically do whatever you want. Plus you're getting paid." He waited for Miyamoto climb out of the sewers then pushed the manhole cover back into place. "Meanwhile, I get to spend the rest of my life pushing papers around."

In his expert opinion, business was probably the most boring profession one could get into in this day and age and the people who do get into it are mostly old and ugly men who didn't have the energy to do anything else. His mother would often talk about it during dinner, but he never understood a word she said.

Miyamoto had once tried explaining to him the basics of business, "There are 5 basic goals of any business. One: Profit, Two: Economize and Five: Pokemon!"

"I think you're missing Three and Four." he had said.

She had laughed, "Those two are secret. You'll find out when you're older."

Now, she stared at him with pity. "If you don't want to do it just tell your mother that." she said, then realizing how stupid her idea sounded, quickly said, "Never mind."

Giovanni rolled his eyes as the two headed towards Viridian Forest. Miyamoto knew, as well as the other executives in the organization, who spoke to Giovanni's mother almost regularly, her Boss's stubborn and materialistic ways. Yet they all seemed to hold an odd sort of respect for it. Giovanni knew the feeling, although he could do no better than any of them in explaining it.

The scenery of the forest had changed much in the last few days. Several nights of cold winds had left the trees of the forest almost completely bare. Cold winter nights wouldn't be far off and he found himself hoping that, wherever the Team Rocket Training Camp was located, that he was somewhere down south where, hopefully, could serve as a somewhat of a getaway from the chilly winters of Viridian City.

Despite being the son on a wealthy businesswoman, Giovanni wasn't very well travelled and had only left Viridian City for school and once on a vacation with his mother to the Orange Islands. He had been seven at the time and had spent most of the trip at the beach trying to catch Krabby with his bare hands. He managed to get his hands on a big one, only to end up with a bloody nose after a few snaps of the crab pokemon's pincers.

"So I'm guessing you know how extremely rare these things are." Miyamoto said, in an attempt to make conversation as they trudged through the slowly decaying forest.

"What?" Giovanni said, still lost in thought.

"The Persian I mean."

"Yeah." Giovanni mumbled, "I asked Dr. Zager about it."

"Then you know that those things are worth about 50,000 poke right?"

"50,000?" he mouthed, stunned.

"When we find it you should think about selling it." she suggested.

"No way!" he cried, then, hastily added, "I mean, there are other ways to make money, but I might never find a Persian again!"

Miyamoto shrugged, "Suit yourself." Then she added, "Better keep it away from your mother through. Bought herself a Persian fur coat a couple months back." Giovanni ignored her.

They continued walking along the path for almost half and hour before he spotted the familiar drained out gulch. He leaped over the gap, the rest of the route he knew almost instinctively and broke into a spirit as if time would go backwards if he went fast enough. Giovanni couldn't help but feel a little worried for the cat pokemon. He hadn't seen it since Charmeleon had jumped him, the day before, leaving that half starved and injured Persian alone in the forest for the night and with the poacher possibly still lurking in the woods, there was no telling whether Persian would still be waiting for him.

* * *

**A/N: Poke is the currency in the games. It is represented with a P with two slashes through it. It is meant to be a reference to Japanese yen. 100 Japanese yen is 1 US dollars so 1,000,000 poke is 10,000 US dollars. I tried to make is somewhat real since a real fur coat can be 50K+ but the poachers are just selling Persian so in order for there to be profit, the pokemon must cost a bit less.**


	5. Rescue

**Chapter Five-** Rescue

_Giovanni, Age 9_

_Persian, Level 15_

* * *

Giovanni gritted his teeth. Gone. He clenched his fist and bit his tongue till he could feel it start to bleed a bit. Persian was gone. All that was left to prove there had been a pokemon there was a bit of matted down grass and a few drops of blood from its leg injury.

"Lets head back," Miyamoto sighed.

"It's too bad though. I was getting all worked up about being able to see a live Persian, but it looks like it got hungry and wandered off."

"The poacher took it," Giovanni hissed. How dare he?! Persian was his. He had stole him fair and square. He had taken care of it for two whole days. He had basically gotten grounded for the next two years just so he could get a pokemon a month earlier then he would have. Thinking back on it, it was probably one of the stupidest things he had ever done, but he had risked it all anyways and he definitely wasn't about it quit.

Miyamoto frowned and looked at the boy pityingly, "I'm sorry. Either way, there's no way to find it now. They could be anywhere."

Giovanni's eyes narrowed.

"No," he growled, "I know where he's headed."

* * *

It had been a simple job, but along the way it had all gone to hell somehow. Two weeks ago an extremely wealthy benefactor had called, offering a large amount for as many Persian as he could get his hands on. The market hadn't been doing so well as of late with all the new criminal organization springing up and providing more competition then he felt comfortable with, so he had been glad to finally get a decent offer.

Hoping the payoff would secure him for a while, he had eagerly accepted the job. With organized crime on the rise, he never thought the cops would bother targeting an independent poacher, but he was wrong. It had taken him less than two days to round up nearly a dozen Persian, but he had gotten cocky and stayed in Vermilion City an extra night to drink at a pub to toast his good fortune and brag to his co-workers. He suspected one of them had been the ones to rat him out.

The next morning, the city was surrounded by cops. There was no way he could had loaded the goods onto the ship without them being screened. He needed to get out of town, but there was no where he could have gone. The cops would have created blockades around all the exits to town and set up check point on route to the surrounding towns as well.

There was no way to escape, so he did the only thing he would think to do. He ditched all, but one of the crates, stole a truck from the docks and dug. Within 3 days he had created a tunnel from Vermilion to Pallet Town. Dugtrio were known to be able to dig tunnels as fast as 60 mile per hour that would cause the earth to rumble. Unwilling to cause that much attention he had been forced to slow down drastically and ditch the caged Persian in the Viridian Forest when he rented a room in a hotel in Pewter City and waited for the heat to die down.

When the police had finally cleared, so had the Persian. He return to the spot he had abandoned the cage to find in empty. He had scrounged the entire forest for two days before he managed to find one. Not wanting to hang around too long, in case the police decided to resume their search for him. He had tossed the remaining Persian in the back of his truck and mapped his escape route to Pallet Town where he could dump the Persian, collect his payoff and hopefully retire in peace. He was getting too old for this crap...

* * *

He had spotted the truck driving along his peripheral vision. He and Miyamoto were trudging back to headquarters, both in low spirits at having to go back empty handed. The sign on the side of the vehicle had read, "Vermilion City Dockside Shipping." It couldn't have been a coincidence. There was no reason a Vermilion shipping truck would be all the way over in Viridian. So just like that he had ran up to the truck and latched onto the back, just as it started to roll away.

The door was locked, of course, but if he tried to pick it, he would probably lose his grip and fall off the truck. They zoomed past several blocks, with Giovanni wishing he had come up with a plan before he had decided to latch onto a moving vehicle. He wondered if it was possible to wait until the truck stopped at Pallet Town. But then what? He still needed a plan. If only Miyamoto had reached the truck before it had sped off, but the woman had hesitated a moment too long before going after Giovanni and had missed the truck by an inch.

Giovanni cringed as the driver made one violent turn after the other, nearly causing him to lose his grip on several occasions. But he wasn't about to quit. Giovanni knew that if he let go of the truck now, he would never catch up to it again. He had come too far and risked too much to throw everything away. He would get Persian out now matter what.

"Persian!", he shouted, not caring if his screams alerted the driver.

"If you can move help me out!", he cried, "Lend me your power!"

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence, then, just as the truck turned another corner, an earsplitting screech sounded from the inside of the truck. The driver, swerved, send the truck crashing into a tree, badly damaging the front. Smoking billowed from the busted engine. Giovanni lost his grip on the truck as if made impact and covered his head with his arms instinctively as he rolled across the pavement.

"Gio!", Miyamoto cried, finally catching up to the truck.

"Miya!", Giovanni shouted, relieved she had made it. There was no time to waste. With the ruckus they had caused, Giovanni estimated that the police would be on their backs in a matter of minutes.

"Help me break the cage!"

She unzipping her coat and pulled out he gun.

"No problem!", she grinned, firing several shots at the lock until it finally split in two.

Giovanni opened the doors of the cage and dove into the back of the truck, wrapping his arms around the half starved, injured Persian who seemed to look even more beaten then before. What kind of idiot hurts their own pokemon? Even if he's just going to sell it, he won't get much if it's this injured.

Outraged, he spun around, ready to give the driver a piece of his mind for ruining his pokemon.

"Hey-", he murmured, but before he could utter another word, he felt the cold metallic barrel of a gun touch his forehead. He slowly lifted his eyes and glared at his much taller captor with a look of disgust.

"You little brat!", he growled, "I'll teach you to mess with the affairs of adults!"

The man pressed his finger on the trigger, then stopped, his eye wide with horror. "Sonuvabitch you're with me!", Miyamoto hissed as she dragged the man off of Giovanni and jabbed her finger on the trigger.

"For a moment there he was starting to sound like my _mother_," Giovanni commented as he slid off the back of the truck and stepped over the poacher's fallen body.

Miyamoto chuckled, then stopped dead in her tracks.

"What?", Giovanni quavered. Then it hit him like a herd of Tauros.

He looked up at Miyamoto.

_We are so dead._

* * *

"So will he be alright?", he asked Dr. Zager.

He and Miyamoto had taken Persian back to headquarters in a pokeball. It hadn't been too difficult, which was worrying. Just three days prior, he had almost bitten Giovanni's hand off at the sight of a pokeball, but now, it couldn't even be bothered to hiss. Dr. Zager had given it a muscle relaxant as a precaution. Persian slept peacefully on Zager's examination table, oblivious to the doctor's poking and probing.

Miyamoto leaned against the door frame of the laboratory, flipping through a pokemon manual and pretending to look indifferent, although Giovanni caught he sneaking several glances at the cat. She was worried too, but doing her best not to show it.

"It's fractured its leg", Dr. Zager reported at last. He gestured towards his left leg. The wound Giovanni had done his best to keep clean had reopened and was bleeding again.

"He'll be limping around of a few weeks. Other than that, he's just hungry and bruised."

Giovanni let out a sigh of relief. As long as no permanent damage was done, everything would be alright.

"Although...", Zager added. Giovanni gulped.

"The long terms effects of this injury... are difficult to predict," he theorized.

"Worst case scenario... after a few years, it'll be worthless for battling. Which means that all the work you put into training it will ultimately be in vain."

"Is there anyway to prevent it?", Giovanni asked, hopefully.

Zager shook his head. "The best we can do is heal his leg as quickly as possible now and sell it off to a poacher."

Persian's ear twitched slightly, as if it could hear every word that was said between the two of them.

"We just stole it from a poacher!", he protested.

"Well then I'd suggest you sell it to another because training it will be a waste of time and resources."

"Doctor." Miyamoto said, finally "I just killed a man to save this fur ball. If the Madame finds out I'll probably get fired and this little brat will get deported to the uncharted islands."

"And I've already said that there's nothing I can do." Dr. Zager persisted, "But if you insist on keeping it-" He reached for a small bottle of pills and waved them in front of Giovanni. "Give it one of these everyday."

Giovanni took the bottle. The label read, "Protein."

"Thank you Dr. Zager." Giovanni said, bowing.

"It's nothing." he said. "Keep it out of its pokeball for now."

"Right." Giovanni nodded.

"Oh and one more thing." Dr. Zager said, quietly, a sly grin on his features.

"Huh?"

"You're wearing your shirt inside-out."

* * *

**A/N: A bit more language in this chapter, but it is worth it to see Miyamoto being bad-ass (oops i did it again). For those of you who dislike language sorry, but as Giovanni grows up there will only be more! It'll be within reason through so no worries. Besides, it is rated T for a reason.**


	6. Apology

**Chapter Six-** Apology

_Giovanni, Age 9_

_Persian, Level 15_

* * *

When Madame summoned Miyamoto and Giovanni to her office to give her their progress report for the day, the two had already come up with believable alibis. Miyamoto told Madame that as further punishment for his playing hooky, she had made him do several hours worth of push-ups, chin-ups, and jumping jacks to compensate. His mother laughed when she said this, as if she wished she had been the one to have thought of the idea. Giovanni stood to the side, pretended to look sore, which was easier then if sounded. Holding on the back on the truck for so long and falling on the pavement had given him bruises and sores on every inch of his body.

"Tomorrow I want you to start battle training," she said after Miyamoto was finished. She reached into he desk drawer and tossed a pokeball in Giovanni's direction.

Giovanni caught the pokeball and unscrew the top. A small purple rat popped out. "The agents found it at one of the construction sites. Since you liked played with mice so much-", she chuckled.

Giovanni sneered and looked down at the Rattata with distaste. Madame, however, simply smiled and urged Miyamoto to continue her good work.

After the two were dismissed Miyamoto escorted Giovanni back to his room. Miyamoto told the guards outside Giovanni's room to take a break. Insisting that she would watch him while they were out.

Once the doors were closed she said, "Your mother is a lot more clever then either of us gave her credit for." She laughed, "She was mocking you. Giving you that Rattata. She knows you were up to something else, although she's doesn't know what yet. You don't get on her good side soon and she'll sell _you_ to the poachers."

Giovanni ignored her. He sat down beside Persian, who had been asleep in his bedroom since they had brought it back from Zager's lab. He stroke the cat's course milky fur, shocked at how smooth and silky it was even after all it had been through. He wondered if Persian fur ever got tangled.

Giovanni's fingers crept up to the jewel on Persian's forehead. He hadn't understood a word Miyamoto had said. He gently placed a finger on Persian's jewel, causing the cat to open its eyes and sit up with a start, only to find that its movement was limited by a foot cast. It hissed furiously and unsheathed its claws, lashing out at Giovanni.

"Gio!", Miyamoto cried.

Persian managed to hook its claws into his flesh, forming three long and deep scratches on his arm. Then it pounced, snatching Giovanni's hand in its jagged teeth. He screamed in pain. Miyamoto rushed to his side and desperately tried to pull Persian off him.

She reached out and grabbed Persian my the mussel, trying to pry the cat's teeth out of Giovanni's hand. Persian held on, his jaws planted firmly, causing blood to well and drip onto the carpet. Giovanni reached out and snatched one of Persian's whiskers. The cat immediately released his hand and lay on the ground quietly. Giovanni recalled Persian back into the pokeball, ignoring Zager's advice about keeping it outside.

"How did you do that?", Miyamoto asked.

Giovanni didn't respond. He stared at the deep scratches and bite marks on his arm and hand.

"It hurts!", he cried.

"Its alright calm down!", Miyamoto ordered, "Where's your first-aid kit?"

"The bottom drawer of my desk!"

Pulling the drawer open, she snatched a white box with a red plus signed painted on it. She took out a spray bottle and squirted the blue liquid all over his hand. Giovanni cringed, the potion caused his hand to sting terribly. He was thankful that Miyamoto had dismissed the guards. If they had heard him scream, they would have reported straight to his mother. And if his mother found out about Persian he would have to come up with an excuse for why he had it and the his mother would have a hat and boots to match her Persian coat.

Miyamoto wrapped bandages around his injured hand, stopping a few times to make sure they were wrapped tightly. Then she dug through his dresser until she found a pair of fingerless gloves.

"Wear these," she instructed, tossing them on the floor in front of him.

Giovanni did as he was told. It would probably scar, but he didn't care. A few days ago, the two of them had gotten along so well. This sudden act of aggression made no sense to him. He picked up Persian's pokeball.

"Maybe it'll be best if you stick with the Rattata for now," Miyamoto suggested.

"Yeah, maybe," Giovanni replied, quietly.

Miyamoto smiled and walked to the door, "Sleep early. We start training tomorrow morning."

Giovanni waited for her to shut the door before unscrewing the pokeball. Persian materialized in a stream of light.

"I understand why you're mad," Giovanni said, "The poacher took you away from you home and your family. You probably don't trust humans very much. But you trusted me and I betrayed that trust by abandoning you," he cried, getting down on all fours, "Forgive me!"

Persian walked up to Giovanni and offered a gentle lick on the face.

* * *

**Giovanni's POV**

The next few weeks passed by pretty uneventfully. Miya taught me battle tactics while I pretended to be interested. Most of the time i just tune her out, but sometime I pay attentions. I've learn that normal types are weak against fighting but resistant to ghost and that there are about 150 pokemon native to Kanto.

Having Persian at my side makes it all easier. He's adjust pretty well to life indoors. I've finally persuaded him to stop tearing up the carpets after getting him a scratching post with some allowance I managed to save. I think he's forgiven me for abandoning it. I promised him that once I became a trainer I would take him back to Vermilion City.

Eventually realizing that I wasn't really paying attention to her lectures and that Persian badly needed to stretch his legs, Miya started battle training which I was grateful for I suppose, even through she made no attempt to go easy on us. She introduced us to her team of six: Vileplume, Sneasel, Murkrow, Arbok, Golbat and Houndour. Trainers aren't legally allowed to carry more then six pokemon with them at a time, but in Team Rocket, field agents are restricted to three so that they can capture/steal pokemon without arousing too much suspicion and because more than three can be a hassle to take care of.

During one of our lessons with Miyamoto, Persian stole my pokeball and ate the Rattata. I think it prefers live kill to the pellets we feed it through it is suppose to be "an ideal blend for normal types". I laughed when that happened. Maybe a bit harder then I should have, but honestly I prefer Persian to some oddly colored mouse.

My mother, quickly sensing Persian's presences at headquarters tried to take him away until Miya convinced her that letting me keep it would motivate me to preform better. She relented, but threatened to take it if my performance failed to meet her expectations.

My tenth birthday was a quiet affair. Which in this situation means that I got in a helicopter with Miya and Persian and flew to an island several hundred miles off the coast. Dr. Zager taken Pesian's cast off the day before and he was rest comfortable in the ground beside me.

When I was younger we alway had small family celebrations when my birthday came around. The chief would prepare a small cake and then my father would help me cut it. The tradition had stopped after he had left mother and me after my sixth birthday.

He said that my mother was too focused on work and that she didn't care about anything else. My mother, as stubborn as she was, just nodded smugly and agreed with him. And that was the last time I ever saw or heard from my father. After that, my mother barely acknowledged my birthday at all, only saying how they were meaningless rituals. I could tell she was upset, so I didn't say anything more. She really did love my father, but she couldn't say so. So instead so tried to distract herself by working.

"It looks like we're here," Miya announced, looking out the window.

"Land here!", she instructed the pilot.

"Sure thing."

I woke up Persian and got out of the helicopter. We had landed on the roof of a building at the bottom of a cliff, surrounded my a dense forest or as Miya called it, "the ideal spot for training".

During the helicopter ride, she had told me how she had spent the last two years of her teenage life living in the facility, "The training is from dawn to dusk with only breaks during meal times. They work you to the bone with survival training, battles, field operations and work out sessions, but the end result is a rewarding one, because you're acknowledged as one of the best in the world."

The inside of the building was nothing special. Miya gave us a quick tour of the facility. It was mostly one huge barrack for the trainees with a couple of rooms filled with pokeballs and equipment and a cafeteria.

"We better make ourselves comfortable," I told Persian, after dropping my bags on the floor on the room and plopping down on the bed, "you and I are going to be here for a while."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this is so short. But quality over quantity right?**


	7. Persian's Tale

**Chapter Seven-** Persian's Tale

_Giovanni, Age 10_

_Persian, Level 17_

* * *

**Persian's POV**

My whole life I was taught to hate humans. Although strangely, I could never bring myself to. Instead, I admired their power. Humans had so many more conveniences that we did not possess. Yet at the same time, they were fragile beings. They have no claws and their teeth are as dull as the elders. I stupidly let myself get too close.

When I was captured by a human I thought I was done for. The feeling of guilt and shame only intensified after I realized that I had led the humans straight into our den. As I watched as they tossed my kin in cages. I recall the tales my mother told about humans killing us and taking our skins to wear on their hairless bodies.

I was relieved when I saw them release my kin. I expected them to release me as well. I was blessed with no such luck. Such was the punishment for my foolishness.

Needless to say, I could hardly believe my luck when I was finally rescued. I hadn't eaten in several days and was too weak to hunt. My captor managed to hunt me down and cage me yet again. When the child returned for me I wasn't sure what to believe. I lashed out it and injured him quite badly. I was sorry for that. But despite everything, I was made a part of the household.

At first, I felt that everything seemed too cramped and small. Every den is the same shape and the paths that connect to them are all long and narrow. There are new scents and sights all around that certain can't be found anywhere in the forest. The food is not as a good as live kill and can be tastelessly dry at times, but I have come to realize some of the many pleasure the indoors life can provide.

For instance, the humans all scare notoriously easily. Even a small yawn is enough to get them running down the hall for their lives. It makes for excellent entertainment. The inside is warm which brings in all manner for small creatures from the outside. Especially now that the cold season is coming. The human food storage places provide wonderful hunting grounds. I have never seen prey so stupid.

Sometimes I still miss those I have left behind, but for now, I think I may stay a while longer.

* * *

Giovanni poked at the keyboard of his laptop. Miyamoto had given the device to him as a late birthday present. He had downloaded the training information on it so he could get a preview of exactly what he was in for in the coming years.

So far, living in the facility was not too different from living at headquarters, except that it was actually a bit more exciting now that he was allow to do some actually battling. Listening to Miyamoto's lectures was actually somewhat bearable with this addition. Despite this, he had yet to win any of his battles. Miyamoto's pokemon were tough even though she claimed not to train them much since most of her missions didn't require assistant unless she happened to get caught. And she never got caught.

He waited patiently as the bulky device processed his command and watched as the red bar slowly inched from 0 to 100%. He scrolled through the information, his eyes sliding from left to right as he scanned the seemingly endless array of letters.

"Hey Persian!", he called, summoning the cat to his side, "Come look at this!"

Persian leapt onto the bed with a single graceful bound and lay on top of Giovanni, crushing the 10 year old under 72 pounds of fur and claws.

"Quit it!", Giovanni cried as Persian placed its paws on the boy's face. He tried to get up, only to have Persian pin him to the bed like a piece of prey and nib at his hair, playfully.

Finally getting Persian to lift its paws so that he could redirect his attention to the computer screen, he read, "The Team Rocket Training Academy is divided into two groups; Red and Blue, in order to promote competition and weed out trainees who do not meet criteria. Each trainee with be paired with a partner of the opposite gender. The progress of the Team as a whole will determine whether individual trainees will graduate from the academy at the end of the 18 month semester."

"That doesn't sound so bad I guess," Giovanni said, "At least I'll have a partner. I wonder what they'll be like. Persian-" He turned around, but Persian had already left the room.

* * *

Persian walked down another seemingly endless hallway. Three days ago, the human boy had taking him to a new human den. He had no idea where the den was located. Wherever it was, they were far outside Persian's mental radar.

When he had first arrived, he started taking in the new sights and sounds. Through the area was surrounded by a dense forest, he could smell the sea not too far off. Maybe he could do a bit of fishing if he could make his way to the ocean one day. For now, he was content with exploring the inside of the den which was much the same as the last. Through it was not nearly as big, it seemed to contain more humans and pokemon.

He followed the scent of pokemon, longing for someone to talk to. The scent eventually brought him to a room with double doors at the end of the long hall. He got up on his hind legs and tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. Confused, he sat in front of the door and swished his tail from side to side, pondering on how to get in.

Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps. He darted swiftly to the side of the hall and lay on the ground quietly, as if preparing himself for a nap. He watched as a human stomped down the hall and entered to room, seemingly unaware of Persian's presence. The double doors slid open to allow the human pass and Persian slipped through, undetected behind him.

The room was filled with pokemon. No surprise there, but was did surprise him was cages. The room was lined with row upon row of the imprisoned, each sitting quietly in its cage, acknowledging that any chance of escape would be futile. He walked along the cold, steel tiled floor, gaping in horror at what surrounded him.

"Oh look," a Raticate growled, "I've heard of you. You're the little boss's pet pokemon."

"Little boss?"

"Look at it walking around living leisurely while the rest of us suffer!", he sneered. He bared his buck-teeth and glared at Persian threateningly.

"Enjoy your pampered life while you can kitty! You're not going to be the top of the poacher list for long!"

"What?", Persian said, confused.

"That's right!", a purple beast added with a sadistic chuckle. It was a large purple beast with spikes along its back and a thick tail that looked as if it could knock someone's head clean off. Persian had never seen anything like it before.

"And once you're not rare anymore, you'll be no better then the rest of us!"

"Shut up Nidoking!", Raticate snarled, "I'm talking here!" The rat turned back to Persian.

"Your human might be a sweet little kid now, but they're grooming him to be the next big boss. And for humans the only thing that is important is money, money, money."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you get it?! Once you're not worth a thing, you'll be tossed onto the street like a big pile of trash!"

Their voices and taunts echoed in Persian's ears. This place was no difference then where he can come from. Cages, poachers... just when he though he had found something better. Maybe humans really couldn't be trusted. Their tools and "conveniences" only brought pain and misery to pokemon. No!

They didn't understand. How dare the they taunt him without knowing anything?! They didn't know what he had been through! He didn't even know if any of his family were still alive! He had found a kind human and he wanted to believe in him.

"Silence!", Persian hissed, causing the large rat to flinch in fear. As long as he wasn't the experiment, why should he care?! It didn't matter to him. It wasn't his problem! It wasn't his fault!

He let out a screech of frustration and darted aimlessly through the maze of cages, desperate to get away from the sight of steel bars, which always seemed to come with such unpleasant memories. Not watching where he was going, he banged his head on one of the cages. The vibrations rang through his ears and sent unbearable pain through his skull, but he didn't care.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?", a voice asked.

"I suppose you want to mock me too?", Persian retorted, lifting his head to glare at the fire fox.

"Not at all," she smiled, kindly, "I can see you have been through much. But you will live a long life of peace, if... you are able to withstand the pain that such a life is sure to bring."

Persian snorted. He didn't trust psychics. He started to back away when he felt a pair of hands grab him by either side.

"I caught it!", the human that had caught him cried. Stupid move.

Persian bit the grunt's hand. Even with thick rubber gloves the grunt cried out in pain and dropped the wailing cat. Suddenly, bars fell around him.

"Oh look," one of the grunts said, "It's just that kid's pet."

"You mean the boss's kid?"

"Oh yeah! Miss Miyamoto told me about it. Its a Persian."

"Pretty rare breed."

"What's it doing out here?"

"Who knows?"

"What should we do with it?"

"Let it go I guess."

"Should we take it back to the kid's room?"

"No way! I don't want to touch that thing!"

"It almost bit my hand off."

"Just let it go. It should be able to find its way back on its own."

The bars were lifted. Persian took a few tentative steps, then seeing no one was going to stop him, ran away at full speed before they could change their minds. He wouldn't be an experiment, but he was more then just a pet. He was still a living being with a will and he was determine to show them his power.

* * *

"Go Sneasel!", Miyamoto cried, tossing her pokeball. Giovanni stared at the small pokemon, unimpressed.

"Don't let the size fool you," Miyamoto said, noticing Giovanni's haughtiness, "This beauty is quite the thief."

A small crowd of Rocket trainees swarmed around them to watch their superior office and future boss battle. Word had spread quickly around the facility that the Boss's kid was here for training and all eyes were on him. Waiting for him to do something incredible, or mess up...

"Persian use scratch!", Persian lunged at Sneasel with incredible speed, unsheathing his claws and striking a well aimed swipe at the blueish weasel, missing by barely an inch as it somersaulted out of the way and gracefully landed on its feet.

"That was Agility!", Miyamoto explained to a stunned Giovanni.

"But don't stop, there are still more attacks coming your way! Low Sweep!"

Sneasel sudden appeared behind Persian and knocked the cat off his feet with a spinning kick.

"Now Punishment!", Miyamoto cried, as Sneasel claws began to glow purple.

"Stop it with Bite!", Persian dove at Sneasel, grabbing its claws in his teeth and disabling its attack.

"Sorry," Miyamoto said smiling, "But it looks like you're the one who can't move!"

Sneasel opened its mouth and a light blue ball appeared in front of it. "Ice Beam!"

Giovanni shut his eyes and shouted the only command he could think of, "Eat the ice!"

All the trainees including Miyamoto stared at Giovanni with surprise mixed with confusion. But Persian was the only one who didn't hesitant. Pinning Sneasel's claw's down with his claws instead of his teeth he swiftly lunged forward and grabbed the ice ball, snapping in between his jaws.

"Now finish it with Scratch!", But instead of obeying Giovanni's command, Persian pointed the jewel on his forehead, which was glowing with mysterious energy, at Sneasel.

"What kind of attack is that?"

Miyamoto wasted no time, "Sneasel use Punishment again!" But Sneasel didn't moved. Its eyes were still transfix on Persian's charm.

"A hypnosis attack?", she suggested.

Persian let out a furious battle cry as flashes of golden yellow light were fired from his charm and hit Sneasel in the chest, knocking it unconscious.

Miyamoto walked up to her fallen pokemon and picked up something that had landed on the ground. It was a small, round, golden object with a square hole in the middle, "Coins?"

* * *

**A/N: My first attempt at a pokemon battle. Tell me what you think!**

**If you are wondering what the pokemon are doing at the training academy. They are pokemon trainees caught during practice in the forest surrounding which will be shipped to HQ and either kept for the army or sold and skinned depending on the market.**

**Second, I know Persian is 70.5 lbs, but Gio's Persian is slightly bigger then average (there's a good reason, be patient).**


	8. General Knox

**Chapter Eight-** General Knox

_Giovanni, Age 10_

_Persian, Level 18_

* * *

**Giovanni's POV**

A week after arriving at the training facility, Miya left on a mission to Johto, apparently on a "pest control" operation to take out some of the organization's rivals before they go too many supporters. The night before her departure, she kept raving about taking the opportunity to see rare and new pokemon. I was surprised to hear that she had never traveled to Johto before. Despite her many missions for Team Rocket, she had remained in the Kanto region her entire life. Immigration laws between Kanto and Johto had been tight since the founding of Team Rocket, but had strengthened even further since the uptake in pokemon trafficking and the emergence of rival gangs, making it near impossible for anyone to travel between the regions.

Miya was crazy about rare pokemon, unlike my mother who only saw pokemon as a way to make money, Miya loved the trill of traveling to unknown locations and seeing what no other human had seen before. As a child, she had read stories about the legendary birds of Kanto and Johto, but she was most fascinated with the Phantom Pokemon.

The Legend of the Phantom was pretty well known around Kanto, but fairly obscure elsewhere. Each region had its own set of legends it believed it, but there was very little evidence to provide the existence of any of them. But Miya took every word of the legends seriously. Every time she was sent to a new place, she would complete the mission ahead of schedule and use the rest of her time to search for the Phantom. Of course, she never found anything.

The morning she left, she gave me a red Team Rocket uniform and introduced me to General Knox, a tall, lean and bespectacled man in his mid-40s who had a permanent expression of distaste burned into his features. To me, he looked more like one of the scientists of Rocket Labs than a training instructor, through Miya claimed he had been her personal instructor when she had attended the academy.

"The General's the best there is!" she had said.

I disliked him at first sight and could tell the feeling was mutual. Persian bared his teeth and hissed at the man, letting him know that if he took a single step closer, he would be on the lunch menu.

"Ok!" Miya smiled, in a failed attempt to break the ice, "You two have fun! I have a flight to catch!"

She darted out of the room, giving me a wave goodbye before closing the door behind me. "Good luck" I whispered. But she was already gone.

* * *

**Giovanni's POV**

General Knox left me into a room with other trainees dressed in the same flamboyant red uniforms. There were about a dozen trainees of both genders, all of whom looked years older then I was. As I scanned their faces, a few seemed to shoot back sideways glances, examining me with curiosity. Persian seemed to notice the heated stares and rubbed against my leg, comfortingly. I responded by scratching him between the ears.

Apparently, he could conjure coins now. Miya had gone nuts over the whole thing, spending hours trying to get him to make more, to no avail. I laughed as I thought of all the poachers who had sold Persian for skins. If they had managed to tame one, they could have gotten all the money they wanted. Stupid.

What made things even better was that he had managed to defeat Miya's Sneasel. So what if the Sneasel had been newly caught? It was the first battle we had ever won.

"I will be dividing you each up into groups of two. From here on out you will complete all the tasks given to you as a team. If one of you fails the team as a whole fails. Do I make my meaning clear?"

"Yes sir!" the trainees replied in unison.

I watched as he assigned groups with one male and one female in each. Other than that, the pairs seemed to be arbitrary. As the trainees where paired off, each received a piece of paper from Knox.

"These schedules show the times each team will meet with me for training. However, these are only assessment times." he warned. "When you are not schedule with me, you should be training independently or as a group."

As he continued announcing pairs, I suddenly realized there were only two other trainees left. As I watched them leave the room, I asked the General why he hadn't given me a partner.

"Madame requested that you be made to complete your training on your own since you seem to enjoy running off on you own so much." he sneered. "But honestly, even if she hadn't, I have better things to do then to look for someone who'd be willing to be partnered with a brat."

I rolled my eyes and grumbled. Great, just great! I was starting to see how this punishment worked. I glanced at my schedule and stomped outside in frustration. It looked like I was up first.

"Our first exercise is the 50 meter dash." Knox announced. "The objective, obviously, being to make it through in as little time as possible." He glared at Persian, "And pokemon are not allow to participate."

Persian sniffed in contempt and lay down right where he was and shut his eyes, as if to say, "I wasn't planning to, moron." I chuckled, but quickly put on a straight face when I noticed Knox glaring at me.

I walked up to the starting line and got ready to run. The first exercise looked easy at least. I could live a bit longer without broken bones. I ran around the forest and the halls of HQ when I was bored and had nothing else to do so I knew my stamina was pretty good.

Knox waved a green flag and I leapt forward the starting line, determined to reach the finish as quickly as possible. Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath me vanish, causing me to drop several feet into a ditch in the middle of the track.

"Are you kidding me!"

* * *

"I hate this!" Giovanni grumbled.

His first day of Team Rocket training had been a disaster. After he had fallen, he had limped, crawled and stumbled into last place, triggering almost every pitfall along the way. After his hour was up he had been too sore and covered with bruises to bother attending his afternoon session. What made him even angrier was that Knox hadn't even him any advice on how it improve, as if he didn't think it was worth his time. It made Giovanni feel inferior and he hated it.

He plopped down on the bed and sighed, watching Persian causally lick himself as if he had been the one pushed to the point of exhaustion. He glared the feline, cursing his passive mockery.

Giovanni heard a peeping sound coming from his laptop and pulled the device out from underneath his bed. Miyamoto's face appeared on the screen. "How was your first day?" she asked, cheerfully. Looking a his expressions she added, "Not too great huh?"

Giovanni bit his lower lip, ready to explode with frustration. "Why didn't you tell me they would be intentionally trying to kill me?!" he blurted out.

"I was going to." Miyamoto smiling sheepishly, "But you know... I thought it would be more fun if it was a surprise."

Giovanni looked at her as if she had lost her mind. He mouthed the word, "What?" and shook his head.

"I guess not."

"You GUESS!?" he exclaimed.

"Well at least the General is a good teacher right?"

"He HATES me."

"Huh... I guess I'm just that great!" Giovanni growled. "Well what do you want me to do about it?!"

"You're suppose to be my instructor." Giovanni retorted, "Instruct me!"

"Okay, okay." Miyamoto said, quickly. "Umm... well... the others are bigger and faster then you, but you're a lot lighter."

"Seriously?!"

"No, really!" Miyamoto insisted. "The first exercise should be the 50 meter dash with the pitfall traps right?"

"Right."

"The pitfalls open when a certain amount of weight is place on them. If you sort of... slide when you run," she said, acting out the motions with her hands. "The pitfalls will open more slowly and you'll be able to run past them before they open."

"Right." Giovanni said, nodding. "I'll give it a shot."

"Sounds good" she replied. Her eyes drifted upward, looking at someone sitting beyond the screen's perimeter. Then she looked back at Giovanni. "Sorry, I gotta go Gio!" she cried, "I'm almost at my stop and I still have to strap on my parachute!" she cried as she signed off.

Giovanni at up in bed, trying to decipher Miyamoto's advice. He got up out of bed and practiced sliding across the floor as Miyamoto had said. Persian, who had been sleeping quietly in a corner, opened an eyelid and watched curiously. Then he got up and dropped into a crouch, balancing his weight between his limbs. Suddenly, he broke into a sprint and darted across the room, up the wall and touched the ceiling with his nose. He landed silently on his fore paws and quietly crawled back to his corner.

Giovanni furrowed his brow, determined to mimic Persian's graceful movements. He balanced his weight evenly between both legs and darted forward, sliding his feet into place the way Miya had taught him and tripped, falling flat on his face.

Persian snickered, "I need practice alright!" Giovanni growled, "You're really not helping!" Persian sniffed and shot him a look of smugness.

_Jerk..._

* * *

"Hey miss!" the pilot cried. "You should be getting ready to jump soon. We're approaching Viridian City. We'll be at the border of Johto in a few minutes, if I stay in the Kanto side of the border for too long they'll shoot me down!"

Miyamoto nodded, then turned back to her laptop. "Sorry, I gotta go Gio!" she cried, "I'm almost at my stop and I still have to strap on my parachute!"

She slammed her device shut and slipped it back into her backpack. She quickly strapped her parachute on her back then put on her backpack backwards, tightening the straps so she wouldn't loose her things. She had tied her hair in a bun prior, so that it would't get in her face and eyes.

"Miss Miya?" her partner said. "I just have some concerns regarding the safety-"

"Oh stop being such a baby Alex!" she said, cutting the rookie off.

Straightening her goggles, she walked over to the side of the plane and swung the door open. Madame had partnered the two of them together so that Miyamoto could "so him the ropes". Rick had potential, but he was also hopelessly claustrophobic.

"The _second_ best way to get rid of fear is the face it!" she recited.

"What's the best way?"

"Lobotomy!" Alex gulped.

"Jump on my signal!" the pilot shouted over the deafening winds. Miyamoto gave him the thumbs up to let him know she had heard. She carefully positioned herself in the doorway of the aircraft with her back facing the outside and her arms stretched out to make she didn't fall until it was time.

"What if the parachutes don't open!?" Alex asked.

"Then-" she said. "You'll die!"

"... Maybe we could count down from ten?" he suggested.

"Fine!"

"10...9-"

"Now!" the pilot shouted.

"Wait I'm-" But he didn't get a chance to finish before Miyamoto shoved him out of the side of the plane. The roaring winds cutting off the sound of his screams.

"Is he going to be ok?" the pilot asked, showing concern for the first time.

"It'll be fine!" Miyamoto assured him. "We have him insured!" The pilot nodded and smiled. Miyamoto saluted him before stepping backwards out of the plane.

* * *

**A/N: I'm going to need a few names for rival organizations and will be taking suggestions. If you have any please leave a comment.**


	9. Geodude

**Chapter Nine-** Geodude

_Giovanni, Age 10_

_Persian, Level 18_

* * *

Giovanni shuffled through the forest with Persian leading the way. It had been three days he had started training and he didn't seem to be improving very much. He had taken Persian out hunting so that the cat could stretch his legs and so Giovanni could clear his head. But what he was really doing was sulking. He didn't have a plan and he hated feeling helpless.

The island had a much more tropical climate than Viridian City and it felt like summertime year round. He still had several hours before his next scheduled session with Knox and he thought it would be a perfect opportunity to catch a few more pokemon, now that he knew Persian was more than capable of holding its own in a battle.

He watched as Persian dropped into a crouching position as it had done before. His whiskers twitched and it raised his tail, signifying he was about to pounce. Giovanni crept up behind him, trying to replicate his posture while standing upright. As Persian slowly took a step forward, Giovanni followed, stepping on a twig. The snapping noise it produced cause a Pidgey to flee out of a nearby bush.

Persian cocked his head around and flashed the boy a deadly glare that said, _Thanks for Nothing!_

Just then he heard a sound, "Geodude!" Giovanni cocked his head and turned to face a pair of eyes peeking at him from behind a tree.

"A boulder with arms?" he said, unimpressed. "It looks stupid." He took out his notebook. "Geodude..." He skimmed through his notes on the rocket type. "It's weak against grass, water and fighting. That's a lot... but it is immune to electricity and strong against fire."

He frowned. It didn't look too useful, or strong for that matter. But on the other hand, he needed more pokemon. The only other types he was likely to find on the island were grass, bug and maybe water if he had the patience of fishing.

He looked back at his notebook. "Hey! It can evolve twice! Cool! I'm going to catch it then!" He took out a pokeball. "Ok Persian, start with scratch!" he said, but Persian had already pinned the pokemon down by both its arms.

_You're welcome._

Giovanni ignored Persian's haughty look at unscrewed the pokeball. "Got a Geodude!" he cried. Then he frowned. "Oh wait..." he groaned.

* * *

"Ok!" the General cried, "Let's see if your battling skills are any better than your running!"

"Geodude!" Giovanni cried, unscrewing his pokeball.

"Jolteon!"

Giovanni smiled. It looked like he had the type advantage. Rock was immune to electricity so Jolteon couldn't do a thing.

"Geodude use Rock Throw!" A rock appeared in Geodude's arms and he tossed it at the spiky feline.

"Jolteon Double Kick!" Jolteon leapt up and kicked the rocked, splitting it in two. Next it ran towards Geodude, landing a second kick to its face and sending it flying.

"Geodude is unable to battle! Jolteon wins!"

"Just because a pokemon is one type doesn't mean it's attacks are limited to that type!" the General lectured. "Now call out Persian!"

* * *

**Persian's POV**

I stepped out onto the battlefield. That Geodude was useless in battle. No surprise there. Geodude clans were usually make up of works, not fighters. They dug out caves and smoothed out the surface of mountains, but they weren't very aggressive. But I was a different story.

"Nidoking."

My claws unsheathed instinctively when I heard those words. It had been a week since I had visited the cage room and I was itching to put a few dents in the dim-witted beast's pride. Although admittedly, I never though the opportunity would come so soon.

"Well what do we have here?!" Nidoking laughed, "If it isn't the little baby kitty!"

_"Persian start with Screech!"_

"Sorry kid." I said, through I knew he didn't understand me. "This is my fight."

I glided forwards in graceful bounds and darted straight up the beast's body, making three long cuts on the side of his face and racking my claws down his chest as I fell back to the ground.

_"Iron Tail!"_

"You'll pay for that kitty!" he grunted. "I'm going to pound you to dust!" He swung his enormous tail at me.

I leapt over it, dodging is attack. He swung again, and this time I snatched his tail in my teeth and allowed myself to be swung through the air. Through the rush and blur, I forced myself to focus and released his tail at the exactly moment so that I was flung almost vertically upwards, soaring several feet above his head.

"It was a mistake to show me that move!" I cried, smugly. "I'm a very fast learner!"

My tail hardened an turned a silver-gray color. I flipped twice in mid-air and bashed my tail on his head. "You're going to pay for that kitty!"

"You're big and slow!" I taunted. I landed on my feet and swung around, tripping the giant with my tail. "And one more thing! No one calls me kitty!"

* * *

**Persian's POV**

"Why did you have to do that?" Giovanni cried when we returned to the room. "Why couldn't you just listen to me?"

"Geodude listened and look where it go him."

"You know what the General said?!" Giovanni shouted. "He said you won cause you were tough and it had nothing to do with me!"

"It really didn't."

"He said a strong pokemon deserves an equally strong trainer!"

"All true. You don't deserve me!"

"Well I think you're just too stubborn to appreciate a trainer as great as I am!"

"You don't own me!"

"Worthless cat."

"Useless human."

* * *

**A/N: In case you don't understand, Iron Tail is a TM move and since I don't get how TMs work in real life, I'm just going to say that if a pokemon who can learn the TM see another pokemon do it, he/she will pick it up. After all, gym leader's pokemon all know the attack the gym leader gives as a TM so your pokemon would have witnessed it. Then they can later pick it up if you want them too. Makes sense?**

**Second, Giovanni and Persian can't really talk to each other. Persian can understand Gio, but not visa versa. If you read carefully, what Gio is saying as nothing to do with what Persian is saying back. **


	10. Give me Hope

**Chapter Ten-** Give me Hope

_Miyamoto, Age 25_

_Alexander, Level 21_

* * *

As Miyamoto plummeted towards to ground, she took a few moments to admire the view. From such a high attitude she almost felt like one of the legendary birds. She stared in awe at the snowy peak of Mt. Silver and of the less titanic, but no less magnificent, mountains surrounding it. She knew the entire area would be fenced off with heavy guard patrolling the area by the hour. No one, save the most experienced trainers were permitted through. Mt. Silver, despite its beauty was home to extremely aggressive wild pokemon as well as periodic avalanches.

As the sunset on the snowy peaks, Miyamoto could see where the mountain got its name. The rays setting sun reflected on the icy mountaintop, seemed to turn the snow at the summit a pale shade of silver.

She put her arms close to her body and dove straight downwards, quickly catching up to Alex who was flailing like a Magikarp. She put a finger to her ear and turned on her earpiece.

"Stop waving your arms around like that!" she instructed. "You're just making it harder! Put your arms close to the body and let gravity do the work!"

But Alex hadn't heard a word. He was too busy screaming at the top of his lungs. Miyamoto gave up. After several moments she reach over and pulled his parachute open then propelled herself away before opening her own.

The two of them landed in the middle of a light grove of trees. It wasn't enough to hide them from the patrol helicopters so they had to move quickly. Alex took a few extra moments to get rid of his air sickness, then leapt into action, the whimpering, scared man she had know inside in helicopter, replaced by a highly trained Rocket officer aspiring to rise in the ranks of the organization.

"Humans don't leave enough of a mark to appear on their cheap radars, but if we stay here for too long they'll spot us with a pair of good binoculars." Miyamoto said.

"Got it." Alex said. He took off his parachute and stuffed the cloth back into the bag.

"When did you graduate from the academy?"

"I didn't attend the academy. I trained with Master Koga in Fuchsia City."

"Koga?" she replied, slightly surprised. "I'm impressed."

"Yeah?" Alex chuckled, nervously. "I was his top student at the dojo before I joined Team Rocket."

Miyamoto smiled slightly. _I guess the Boss didn't just choose him at random after all. _

Even though Miyamoto had never met the ninja master, everyone knew what a strong fighter he was, and she wasn't just taking about pokemon either. All of his students were hand picked. Well, maybe students wasn't really the right word. Koga was something of a child prodigy, being the youngest trainer ever to be awarded the title of gym leader.

"What did you bring?"

"Just the usual." Alex replied. He was referring to the standard pokemon recommended in the Team Rocket guidelines manual. Most of the pokemon listed were poison types that were bipedal or had a quadrupled body, both of which made moving around simple. "Weezing and Golbat. You?"

"Sneasel and Vileplume." she replied, "Sneasel still needs a bit of training, but I've had Vileplume since I was ten."

"Sneasel huh? Those are pretty rare." Alex said, "Bet it cost a pretty penny."

"If you think pokeballs cost a lot."

"You caught it yourself huh?" Alex grinned, "Well then you're a lucky lady."

Miyamoto smiled and took out her Sneasel. "Sneasel Dig!" She waited till the hole was a respectable size then recalled her pokemon and tossed the parachute bags inside. Then she kicked dirt over the hole, concealing the evidence.

"We better get going before they find us."

* * *

Miyamoto stared out at the bright lights that filled up the city sky. She hadn't seen a city so massive since the last time she had been to Saffron City. But even Saffron with all its gilts and glamour couldn't compare with the twisty streets and dark alleys of Goldenrod. She would have to take some time to explore if they managed to keep ahead of schedule.

She and Alex had book a room in the nicest hotel in the city. Her partner was fiddling with his laptop on the bed. "Have you gotten the building interior figured out?"

"Almost." he said, not looking up from the screen.

"I'm going out for a while." she said.

"Have fun."

She slid onto the railing of the balcony then leaned backwards, landing perfectly on the rooftop below. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop. She lifted her goggles up to her forehead. Night vision wasn't even necessary in a city so bright.

She listened to the shopkeepers announcing their wares. "Bikes!", "Decorated pokeballs!", "Herbs!", "Caramel Slowpoke Tails! Goldenrod specialty!" Slowpoke _tails_? It sounded disgusting, but Miyamoto made a habit of trying foreign cuisine.

She slid down from the roof and landing in the alley before causally joining the crowds of people on the street. She walked over to the stand that sold the tails and handed the man a coin. He handed her a pink tail coated with a golden brown cream. Miyamoto licked off the caramel. It was sticky and sweet tasting. After she had polished it off, she bit into the tail tentatively. It tasted rubbery. She stared at the tail in distaste.

"You don't chew on it." the shopkeeper said. "Try sucking on it a little."

Miyamoto obeyed, squeezing the juice out of the tail with her teeth. "This is really good."

"You act like you've never had one of these before." the shopkeeper laughed. "Slowpoke tails are all the rage in Johto these days so I'm guessing you're not from around here are you? You from Kanto?"

Miyamoto froze. "No worries, my lips are sealed. I was originally from the Kanto area too. I came here to start a business. Never imagined it would be selling Slowpoke tails. When I first came to Johto I tried to sell pokedolls. It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. In Kanto they sell like hotcakes, but kids here don't seem to be into that kid of thing. So how are things in the older country? Pokedolls still as popular?"

"I don't think so." Miyamoto said still sucking on her tail.

"Times are changing I guess." he sighed. "Of course I left Kanto decades ago, back before they set up the immigration laws. I tell you these are troubling times."

"How so?"

"All this new technology coming around phones, robots, computers. And just recently they changed the legal age to ten." he said, "Can you imagine a child of that age wandering around the forest on their own? I'm not letting my grandkid out of the house till he's sixteen. Kind of makes you think what the government is thinking doesn't it?" Miyamoto didn't respond.

"But don't mind me. I guess I'm feeling my age is all."

"With all respect sir, if you loved Kanto so much why did you leave?"

"Well right now it's mostly nostalgia. I was around your age when I first got to Johto. I guess you could say I was young, crazy and eager to see the world. And I'd imagine it was the same was with you. You must have gotten through I whole lot of trouble to get here. But I'd tell you it's worth it! Johto is a beautiful place! If you get the opportunity you should visit Ecruteak City. They have a lovely dance theater. And if are interested in mythology, there's legend that the city was the ancient home of a legendary bird. They legend has yet to be proven. Many power trainers have spent their whole live search to no avail. They say the bird left the city after the Brass Tower was careless burnt down 130 years ago."

Miyamoto listened intently. Her eye glowing with excitement. The man noticed her eagerness and smiled. "Come inside. I have sometime I think you'd appreciate."

He lead her into the back of his shop. There was a ladder that led into an attic and a wall that divided the room in half. Miyamoto guessed the room led to the bathroom and the smelling coming from under the crack confirmed her hypothesis. The house reminded Miyamoto of her childhood home back in Lavender Town. She and her parents had lived in an apartment of similar size and condition.

The man took two steps up the ladder and stopped. "Are you still up there watching TV!" the man cried. Miyamoto heard the sound of a gun fire, people screaming and the high pitched laughter of a child. "I thought I put you to bed hours ago!"

"You did, but I got bored!" a voice replied, rudely.

Miyamoto reached the top of the ladder and pulled herself up into a small room with blankets and pillows on the floor. "I apologize for him." the man said, "His parents left him here for the weekend. I'd say grandkids are a blessing, but mine is almost more trouble then he's worth." he laughed, jokingly.

Miyamoto smiled warming at the boy who was huddled in a corner wrapped in blankets. His hair which was green with a tinge of blue, shot out at odd directions. He was sucking on a Slowpoke tail and watching TV, but averted his attention to Miyamoto as she walked over to him.

"Sorry my grandpa's so boring." he said, "All he ever talks about with anyone is stupid kids stories. Everyone know the legends aren't real. That's why they'll called legends." He sighed and continued to suck on his tail.

"I think its pretty interesting." Miyamoto said, faking hurt.

"I'll tell you what's interesting." the boy said, matter-a-factly. He pointed at the television screen, "But I'm guessing you never seen westerns."

"Believe it or not I watched them all the time as a kid."

"Seriously?" the boy said, half shocked and half impressed.

"Yep."

He grinned, "But if I were Clint Eastwood I wouldn't use a gun."

"No?"

"I would use a knife and stab their eyeballs out like when I'm collecting Slowpoke tails with grandpa."

Miyamoto almost laughed out loud. _What a fine sociopath you'll make._

"What are you on about now?!" the man cried. "Turn that off and go to sleep." he walked over to the TV and pushed the off button.

"Aw!" the boy whined. "Can I at least finish this first?" he asked, holding up the tail.

"Fine."

* * *

The man lit a candle and led Miyamoto to the opposite side of the room. The man lifted his candle to the wall, causing Miyamoto to gasp. Hanging on the wall were was a painting featuring the legends.

"There are the legendary birds of Kanto; Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno." the man said pointing to the likeness of the bird on the canvas. "And on this side are the two birds of Johto; Ho-oh and Lugia."

"Did you paint this yourself?" Miyamoto asked in complete awe.

"I did." he nodded. "It's my life's work."

"This is incredible!" she cried. She pointed to center of the painting. There was a small pink figure in hovering in a pink bubble above the mountains. "And that-"

"That is the Phantom pokemon." the man said. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"YOU MEAN YOU ACTUAL SAW THE PHANTOM?!" Miyamoto shouted, barely able to contain her excitement.

"I did." he said, "It was decades ago. I was first spotted it wandering in the Virdian Forest. I tracked it for months up and down the hill until I finally found its nest on the summit of Mt. Silver."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." he replied, "I didn't have the chance to. Before I knew it, my pokemon and I was sitting back at the foot of the mountain. They say that the Phantom will only appear to one with pure intentions. I have a feeling you'll be able to find it."

* * *

"Take these!" the man said, handing her crate of Slowpoke tails.

"Oh no I couldn't possibly!" Miyamoto cried.

"Nonsense! I have to thank you for keeping me company and to listen to me ramble."

Miyamoto bowed her head in thanks and took the crate. "Thank you sir."

"Not a problem."

As she started to make her way back to the hotel she stopped and turned back. The man was still waved at her. "Good luck and live a long life sir! If you keep telling you legends, one day people will start listening!"

The man waved until Miyamoto was long out of sight. Then he smiled and whispered under his breath, "You can bet I will..."


	11. Team Mist

**Chapter Eleven-** Team Mist

_Miyamoto, Age 25_

_Alexander, Level 21_

* * *

"I've got it!" Alex shouted, throwing his hands in the air. It had taken several hours of careful maneuvering and sonar scans to map out the hideout of Team Mist. His Golbat was especially turned to preform such tasks, but with or without training, infiltrating a crowded based undetected was no easy feat. He had attached a special device to his pokemon to link all the sonar readings it picked up directly to his computer. The device was still untested and didn't pick up the readings as accurately as he had hoped, forcing him to record the same hallway dozens of times with varying results.

But after five hours of tedious modeling, he had created, what he hoped was, an exact 3D replica of the base. He put a hand to his headset. "Mission complete, return to base." he said.

"Golbat!" came the reply.

"What do we have?" Miyamoto asked.

"Their headquarters is located in Mahogany Town which is maybe a three to four days walk from here, but if we rent Ponyta-"

"No they'll ask for our IDs." she interrupted.

"Sure?"

"I checked."

"Alright, I guess we're walking then." Alex sighed. "Anyways, what they basically did here is remodeled one of those ninja hideout places they had around a couple hundred years ago. Their security is pretty top notch, they have trapdoors, cameras, electric fences, lasers... Why do the bad guys always get the good stuff?

"Well it's not like we're saints either."

"Touche." Alex sighed. "Their cover is a little shop that sells various products from pokeballs to candy-"

"Let me guess, the hideout is in the basement and there's a trapdoor activated by a button behind the counter?" Miyamoto sarcastically.

"Actually yeah." Alex said, sounding surprised. "How did you know?"

"I read." she shrugged.

"Ok from there we have two opinions, sneak in quietly and avoid the high level security or..." he turned to Miyamoto with a mischevious glint in his eyes. "We ride in on a flamethrower and blow the entire place sky high and making as much noise as possible."

Miyamoto laughed. "I think you already know what I'd chose."

"Destroying everything it is then." Alex grinned as he drew out a line planning out their route through the hideout.

"Let's try to keep it at a minimum through." Miyamoto suggested. "Some of the things you were saying earlier about the security sounded pretty good."

"Think of steal the base for Team Rocket? Mighty ambitious." Alex snickered. Their plan was "ambitious" to say the least. A weaker soul would have called it flat out crazy. A team of two Rockets facing down an entire squad of grunts on their own. Times like this made being on the wrong side of the law worth it.

* * *

"Alright here we go." Alex whispered. The two of them were standing outside the Team Mist hideout. Their rivals specialized in ghost and psychic types which could prove to be a problem since most of Team Rocket's choice pokemon were poison types.

"Ok remember to act cool." Miyamoto instructed. "We can't let them know we're a threat just yet and we shouldn't start making TOO much noise until we're well out the range of being sighted by civilians."

"I got it, I got it." Alex said, impatiently. He walked up to the convenience store and slowly walked inside. Miyamoto waited patiently outside, making sure no one entered the store, while Alex got busy knocking out and tying up the owners.

When he was done he taped a signed that read "closed" on the door and called for Miyamoto. "I found it entrance."

"And the cashier?" she asked.

"Just some guy." Alex shrugged. "Didn't put up much of a fight. I gagged him and tossed him in the closet."

"Good." Miyamoto grinned as she pulled her rocket launcher out of its case and gestured towards the door. "Shall we?"

* * *

As smoke billowed out of the canister and swept across the room, Alex and Miyamoto both pulled goggles over their eyes and walked quietly through the crowd. They made their way to the center of the room and stood with their backs towards one another, just as the fog began to clear.

"So which one of you is in charge around here?" Alex shouted, as one of the grunts entered the room with a leaf blower and wafted away the rest of the smoke.

In an instant, all eyes were fixed on the two of them. Alex looked around. There were at least 20 grunts in the lobby and no doubt backup would soon be on the way. The grunts all had their hands at their waists, ready to unscrew their pokeballs if the intruders made another move.

Miyamoto completely ignored their threatening glares. With the rocket launcher still propped against one shoulder, she used her other hand to unscrew her pokeballs containing Sneasel and Vileplume. Alex did the same and watched as his Weezing and Golbat materialized beside him.

"Look alive boys!" Miyamoto cried, "This party is just getting started!"

* * *

Once the melee began there was no stopping it. Miyamoto had fired a rocket at the heart of the crowd and all at once the room was filled with the shrieks and cries of beasts and humans alike. Miyamoto had tossed her empty rocket launcher aside, reluctant to destroy any more of the base, and was kicking, punching and stabbing everything within range, all the while shouting commands to her pokemon.

Alex on the other hand was running, jumping and ducking blows at the other end of the room. He had pulled out his revolver and was shooting at everyone in sight. As the grunts fell one by one, the duo picked up their pokeballs and recalled their pokemon.

"Sneasel Feint Attack! Vileplume Solarbeam!"

"Weezing Sludge Bomb! Golbat Air Slash!" Alex dodged a grunt who had just lunged at him with a dagger in his hand. He twirled his gun around his fingers and used it to bash the guy in the head. He quickly reloaded his weapon as he noticed a wave of reinforcements enter the lobby.

"Golbat to me!" Golbat flew down to him, hovering just above his head, low enough for him to grab a hold of one of its legs. The bat lifted him far above the crowd where he had the vantage point of being able to shoot at his enemies from above. Unfortunately, that's when he remembered his fear of heights. He felt as if he was about to puke.

_Why the hell did I think this would be a good idea?!_ _That's it, _he thought, _no more spy movies for me!_

He shut his eyes and too deep breaths, determined not to loose it. "The best way to get rid of fear is to face it. The best way to get rid of fear is to face it." he muttered under his breath, repeating Miyamoto's advice over and over until he felt calmer. He opened his eyes, "I am an agent of Team Rocket and I'm not afraid of anything!" he cried.

Suddenly a shadowy figure appeared in front of him "Haunter!" it hissed. Alex let out a high pitched scream and almost lost his grip on Golbat's leg. He flailed in midair and caused Golbat to take a suddenly dip downwards, struggling to carry its trainer's weight.

"G-golbat!" Alex groaned, his cheeks bulged a bit as he tried to keep his lunch down. "Feint Attack!"

Golbat flew in a sudden circle, swinging Alex upwards and then bashing him atop of the ghost. Alex's body passed clean through the ghost and he felt as if someone had accidentally locked him inside a refrigerator. He let go of Golbat's leg and landed safely on the ground, the now unconscious body of one of the grunts cushioning his fall.

Alex looked up to see his Golbat lash his sharp wings through Haunter's ghostly body. Haunter let out a horrible screech and disappeared a puff of smoke. Alex raised his fist to the air. He turn to look for Miyamoto who smiled back at him as the two of them scanned the room for new enemies.

"Well that was fun." Miyamoto cried. "But it looks like we're done here."

He nodded, as he felt a icy cold sweep over him. Before Alex could take a step, he slipped into dizzy blackness.

* * *

**A/N: I know some of these attack didn't exist in Gen I or II, but I really don't care cause one of the downsides to the earlier generations is that 90% of pokemon of lackluster movesets. They all have a handful of moves each and it is just really boring.**


End file.
